Ice Cube and Yo-Yo Debate Old vs. New Image of Women

As most male rappers demoralized women, few neither recognized nor respected the new age femcees in their fight for equality in the hip-hop culture.

Ice Cube, former member of N.W.A., rapped lyrics that denied women as equals to men.

In N.W.A.’s track “A Bitch Iz A Bitch,” Ice Cube admits the word ‘bitch’ doesn’t apply to all women. Yet, he puts women beneath men with such lyrics as: “But all women have a little bitch in ‘em… It makes a girl think she’s better than me.”

One femcee that changed Ice Cube’s perception of female rappers was Yo-Yo. Yo-Yo’s approach towards rapping was natural considering she’d been doing it since she was 12 years-old.

But, Yo-Yo admitted to having to be strong in order to survive in the world of hip-hop.

“Even if I wanted to be nice and smiling and soft I couldn't do that and be a rapper," Yo-Yo said in an article written in The Los Angeles Times.

Yo-Yo went further confirming insecurity existed between male and female rappers when she stated, "I'd seem weak, and you can't look weak and survive--not in rap. It's a jungle--full of males. If you come across as weak, you get cut to ribbons."

Ice Cube noticed Yo-Yo’s hard-edged masculine persona in her delivery and decided to have her on his track entitled “It’s A Man’s World.”

The title speaks for itself. The disputed lyrics exchanged between Ice Cube and Yo-Yo argues two ways in which women should be perceived.

Ice Cube argued for the objectified view of women stating, “Women they're good for nothing no maybe one thing/to serve needs to my ding-a-ling.”

In response to Ice Cube, Yo-Yo denied all stereotypes and suggested a new image stating, “No, Yo-Yo's not a hoe or a whore/and if that's what you're here for/exit through the door.”

At the end of the song, Ice Cube asks Yo-Yo’s intentions for becoming a rapper, in which she responds, “to prove a black woman like me can bring the funk through.”

Ice Cube and Yo-Yo’s lyrical exchange covered both the male and female perception of how women are viewed and treated in hip-hop.

The attitude in both Ice Cube and Yo-Yo’s delivery changes throughout the song. In the beginning, both rappers go shot for shot, bobbing and weaving insults and retaliating with punch lines.

What started as a rap battle of the sexes ended up becoming more humorous than literal when Ice Cube states, “This is a man’s world thank you very much,” in which Yo-Yo responds, “But it wouldn’t be a damn thing without a woman’s touch.”